USS Savannah Hit By Radio-Controlled Bomb, 1943

By Elijah Palmer

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator



The picture above shows the aftermath of an aerial attack on the Norfolk-based USS Savannah (CL-42) off of Salerno, Italy, and an unknown PT-Boat attempting to lay smoke as cover in 1943. On the morning of September 11, 1943, anti-aircraft fire and fighter planes targeted a slow-moving German plane above the US fleet off of Salerno, Italy, but could not stop an object that the plane had fired. Soon, an explosion ripped through the light cruiser USS Savannah, causing serious damage and loss of life. The ship had been hit by an advanced German weapon that the fleet was ill-prepared to meet.

The Norfolk-based Savannah was a series of pre-World War II light cruisers that were used during the war as shore bombardment vessels. 

Commissioned in 1938, Savannah stopped in Norfolk a handful of times before World War II. In late 1942, she was included in the Northern Attack Group (part of Western Naval Task Force), when it sailed from Norfolk in October 1942. As part of Operation Torch, Savannah saw combat action off Morocco in support of the amphibious landings there. By January she had been assigned to help patrol the South Atlantic. Once there, the ship was teamed with the USS Santee (CVE-29) and several destroyers. Returning to the United States after a few months, Savannah sailed out from Norfolk in May 1943, heading for the Mediterranean Sea. Throughout the summer, she supported operations in Sicily and southern Italy, proving very effective in naval gunfire support against German shore targets. On occasion, the ship’s crew also provided medical care for wounded soldiers.

On September 11, disaster struck. The Germans launched a high-tech weapon against the ships offshore. This weapon was the “Fritz X” radio-guided bomb. The Germans used this anti-ship bomb largely in the Mediterranean. The attack on Savannah came shortly after a bomb narrowly missed her sister ship, USS Philadelphia (CL-43). It also came three days after several Fritz X bombs sank the Italian battleship Roma, killing over 1,250 men. The Allies quickly began work on countermeasures for these bombs beginning in August 1943, but effective means were not completed until early 1944, so the fleet at Salerno was vulnerable. 

The Fritz X was an air-dropped, radio-guided missile used by the German air force as an anti-ship weapon. With a 705-lb armor-piercing warhead, it was a weapon to be feared. 

The bomb that hit Savannah went through the top of the No. 3 turret and continued down three decks before exploding in the lower ammunition handling room. The explosion ripped a hole in the keel and part of the port side. The crew fought fires and sealed up the damage, getting the ship underway by the afternoon. After temporary repairs in Malta, the ship sailed for the Philadelphia Naval Yard for eight months of serious repair work. The bravery of these men saved the ship, but the cost of the attack was high. 197 men died, and over a dozen were seriously wounded.

After being repaired, USS Savannah returned to Norfolk and in early 1945 had the honor of sailing as part of the escort for USS Quincy (CA-71), which was carrying President Franklin Roosevelt to the Mediterranean on his way to the famous Yalta conference with Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill. Savannah served as part of the President’s convoy on his return to the United States.

Explosive Testing at the Middle Ground, 1910: Ship Sunk, Captain Court-Martialed, Cat and Chickens OK

This is the tale of Willard S. Isham, ordnance inventor/entrepreneur, and his attempt to convince the Navy to buy into his new high explosive mixture. Between the 1890s and the 1910s, Isham had invented an explosive mixture of nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose (a.k.a. guncotton), with a touch of marble dust. Instead of the traditional powder form of explosive, Isham mixed his volatile concoction into a gel. He believed gel had a faster chemical reaction than dry powder, thus creating more explosive force.


The first of two bombs explodes aboard Puritan.

Isham's first attempts to get the Army and Navy to adopt his explosive ended in major failures. He pulled few strings with friends in Congress, forcing the Navy to allow the inventor to go forward with a second test. This second test involved using a real ship, specifically the 6,000-ton monitor USS Puritan. Instead of using live shells fired from a gun, Isham placed two static bombs on the monitor, each filled with 200 pounds of his mixture. He placed one bomb up against a turret and the second on the waterline.

Post-test inspection noted Puritan's armor cracked.

The Navy moved Puritan to the Middle Ground (a place of shallow water in Hampton Roads, just south of Newport News) in early November 1910. Unlike his fellow officers, Captain Austin Knight believed in Isham’s invention, and even agreed to set off the bombs while on board the ship. One of the rising stars in the Navy, Knight had already published a standard text on seamanship and was serving as the Navy's inspector of special ordnance at the time of the test. He would not be alone on the ship. For reasons not known, the ship’s mascots, a cat and several chickens, were kept on board.


On the morning of November 10, several senior Army and Navy officers watched from shore as Knight set off both bombs. The resulting explosion felt “like an earthquake,” according to witnesses on shore. The test far exceeded anyone’s predictions. During the post-test inspection, observers quickly noticed that the first bomb successfully cracked Puritan’s eight inches of armor plate steel that covered the ship's turret. The second bomb created several cracks in Puritan’s hull, causing the ship to take on water.

With the ship now sinking, Knight made an emergency distress call to the Norfolk Navy Yard to send tugs. The tugs, however, arrived too late and Puritan sank. Fortunately, since the test took place on the Middle Ground, Puritan did not sink completely underwater. While the ship was swamped and the armor cracked, the newspapers happily reported that the ship’s mascots were in fine shape. 



The second bomb caused several cracks in Puritan's hull and
the ship began to take on water.  Navy Yard tugs arrived too
late to save the ship before she went down.

Facing a potential public relations embarrassment that two 200 pound explosives succeeded in sinking one of the Navy’s largest coast defense ships, Navy leadership quickly stated that the test was not a true combat experiment and that Puritan could take a standard shell fired from an opposing battleship. Secretary of the Navy George Meyer went as far as to court marital Knight twice for sinking the ship. Fortunately for Knight, a panel of several senior flag officers including Robley Evans, Albert Dillingham, and John Rodgers cleared the captain of any wrong doing both times.

Salvage teams eventually raised Puritan and took her to the Navy Yard for repairs. Knight went on to a distinguished Naval career and retired as commander-in-chief of the Asiatic Squadron. As for Isham, he continued to press for the Navy to adopt his invention until his death in the 1920s.
Four days after Isham's bombs rocked Hampton Roads, the cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-2) anchored a few miles east of Puritan to conduct the most revolutionary test of them all: flying a plane off of a ship.

Editorial Note: Thanks to Sarah Gath for correcting Mr. Isham's name. 

German G7e Torpedo Warhead and Its Ghostly Image

Shown here is a torpedo warhead recovered from the German submarine U-352 by U.S. Navy explosive ordnance disposal divers in the 1980s.  It is currently on display in the museum's World War II gallery.  The warhead comes from a G7e electric torpedo, one of twelve carried by the submarine. The warhead would have carried about 618 pounds (280 kilograms) of an explosive mixture known as Schießwolle 36 or Guncotton 36 (having been invented in 1936).  It contained a mixture of 67 percent  TNT, 25 percent aluminum powder, and 8 percent HND (a highly toxic explosive booster). 

A type VIIc U-boat, U-352 patrolled the American coast line in the Spring of 1942.  She did not have any success before being discovered by the Coast Guard ship USCG Icarus (WPC-110) southeast of Cape Hatteras.  352 actually got off the first shot, but the torpedo went wide and exploded prematurely.  Icarus closed the distance and fired off five depth charges in a diamond pattern.  The resulting explosions critically damaged 352 and forced her to the surface.  Icarus immediately opened up on the submarine with her 3-inch gun and machine-guns.  Already taking on water, the  submarine went down for the final time. Before the boat went down, thirty-three of her crew jumped into the water.  Icarus rescued and captured them all.


A close up of the pareidolia inside the
 museum's German torpedo warhead.

In the 1980s, the West German government requested that the United States remove all remaining human remains from the boat after receiving reports of looting.  It was during this recovery operation that the museum received the warhead.  Today, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Sanctuary office oversees the site and educates divers about the nature of the wreck.

This artifact is a favorite among HRNM docents because what can been see inside the warhead.  Years of oxidation and corrosion has created a white pattern of what looks like a face.  While this may be no more than a pareidolia, some think they are seeing a ghost.  Come see for yourself!

Moving Torpedo Warheads, Yorktown Mine Depot, 1943

Shown here is a General Electric "44-ton Switcher" "45-ton Switcher" locomotive carefully moving live Mk18 torpedo warheads at the Yorktown Mine Depot (now called Yorktown Naval Weapon Station). These switcher trains shipped the warheads to main rail lines.  From there, main railroads took the warheads to the Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island or the new Naval Ordnance facility in Forest Park, Illinois.  At these facilities, workers attached the warhead to a torpedo propulsion unit, and then shipped the finished product out to the Fleet. 

Mk 18 torpedo warhead

The Navy originally intended the Depot in Yorktown to be used only as a storage facility for surplus ordnance.  Its location on the York River was ideal, situated miles away from large urban areas.  The Navy later upgraded the Depot's mission from storage facility to industrial manufacturing for World War II.  Specifically, the Depot became the Navy's primary source for the highly effective, but incredibly unstable, "TORPEX" explosive mixture. Each torpedo warhead contained  660 lbs of TORPEX. The Navy also used TORPEX in undersea mines and depth charges to great effect.  The Army Air Corps used it in their bombs dropped on Germany. 

Measured as fifty percent more powerful than the traditional TNT explosive, British scientists discovered the TORPEX formula and then shared it with the United States.  American ordnance experts conducted only a few safety tests on TORPEX, due to the pressure to get the explosive into the hands of war fighters as soon as possible.  By mid-1943, the facility was producing over 2,000,000 pounds of TORPEX per month.  Safety officers had initially indicated that a rate of 500,000 pounds/month was the acceptable limit.  Unfortunately, the Depot experienced a major accident involving TORPEX.  Read about the incident here.  A very good discussion on American naval torpedoes can be found at one of our sister museum's, the Undersea Warfare Museum, website here.

Mark 14 Torpedo and all its moving parts

Israeli 707s at NAS Oceana, 1973

Editors at Hampton Roads' evening edition newspaper, the Ledger-Star, received a tip on October 10, 1973, that a Boeing 707 with unusual markings landed at Oceana Naval Air Station.   Witnesses soon determined that the aircraft belonged to Israel, though U.S. Navy sailors quickly put paper and paint over the tail to hide the markings.  Ledger-Star photojournalists and reporters made their way to the base early in the morning and took the picture above.   The Virginian-Pilot (parent company of the now-defunct Ledger-Star) recently donated pictures of this unusual event to the Naval Museum.

The reporters and civilians witnessed sailors loading several pallets of AIM-9 Sidewinder (see the museum's Sidewinder here) and AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles on board.  A U.S. Air Force C-141 then flew in and parked itself near the 707.  Crews unloaded several more pallets of 250- and 500-lb bombs.  Navy spokesmen at the region's installations said only, "No comment."  After the plane was loaded up, reporters and witnesses watched the 707 take off and head east.

A short time later, the operation became less of a secret when the Nixon Administration publicly announced that it would be providing military materiel support to Israel's war effort against the Egyptian and Syrian offensives in what is called the Yom Kippur War.  With the Soviet Union providing massive amounts of military aid to Egypt and Syria, the Nixon administration acted on behalf of Israel. 

Upon the President's order, the U.S. Air Force initiated Operation Nickel Grass and summoned every available cargo and airlift plane it had in its inventory.  The planes landed at several military airfields across the country, including Oceana, received any surplus weapon stocks on hand, and shipped them off to Israel. 

Special thanks to Jakon Hays of the Virginian-Pilot for these photos!

Sailors Training For Land Battles, 1915

These pictures show recruits at Norfolk’s St. Helena Naval Training Station, 1915.  The sailors are conducting a series of drills and mock battles for the public.  For much of its early history, the Navy frequently assembled Sailors from the ship’s company and a ship’s Marine detachment into armed landing parties.  By World War I, the Navy was training sailors at shore installations in the latest doctrines in small arms tactics.    The Sailors operating under guidelines set for by the Landing Force and Small Arms Tactics manual.  First published in 1905, the manual closely followed the U.S. Army’s Infantry Drill Regulations.  Among other pieces of advice, the Navy’s manual provided instructions on how to climb a wall as a group, how to handle unarmed mobs, and how to clear a street riot.   With the onset of World War I, the Navy updated the manual and renamed it the Landing Force Manual.  It remained in print through the 1950s.

Sailors in these pictures are using the Lee Straight Pull Rifle (formally known as the “Lee Rifle, Model of 1895, caliber 6-mm”).  Though the Navy had adopted the more modern Winchester Springfield rifle by 1915, the Lee Rifle was still being used by training platoons.  The artillery gun is believeved to be a 3-inch field gun.

St. Helena Naval Training Station was located in the Berkley section of Norfolk, across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk Naval Shipyard.  The Navy stood up the facility in the 1890s as a boot camp for Navy recruits.  The facility was soon considered to be too small to accommodate the thousands of new recruits needed for World War I.  By 1917, the recruits were moved to the new Naval Operating Base Hampton Roads (modern-day Naval Station Norfolk). 

Spanish-American War Torpedo

In the museum's Steel Navy gallery is a German-made torpedo recovered from the Spanish armored cruiser Vizcaya during the Spanish-American War.  Called a Schwarzkopf torpedo, it was named after its manufacturer, the L. Schwarzkopf Company of Berlin. (Note: It should not be confused with the  Schwarzkopf-Henkel Company, which makes personal hair care products for women).



The Spanish armored cruiser Vizcaya

The weapon used air compressed to 700 pounds per square inch as fuel.  This highly compressed air would then move the machinery necessary to move the propeller shaft.  Other equipment kept the torpedo running in a straight line and at a fixed depth.    Inside the warhead was 200 pounds of the powerful explosive nitro-cellulose.  This gave any small warship, such as a torpedo boat, the ability to sink the largest battleship in the enemy fleet. 

Because of its propulsion system, the weapon is called an "automobile," "locomotive," or "self-propelled " torpedo.  A "fixed" torpedo refers to what we now call submarine mines (see the 1864 expression "Damn the Torpedoes").    The invention of a self-propelled torpedo was one of the most sought-after discoveries of the mid to late 19th century.  Many inventors around the world spent their life savings and professional reputations attempting to create what many thought was the ultimate ship killer.  There were many prototypes, but it was British inventor Robert Whitehead who succeeded.   The Royal Navy and U.S. Navy both quickly adopted his design. 

Ironically, L. Schwarzkopf's primary business was the manufacturing of steam locomotives.  This company went into the weapons business by copying the Whitehead torpedo (possibly with the blessings of the British government).  The only difference was that Schwarzkopf torpedo casings were made out of copper, while Whitehead torpedoes were made out of steel.  The company sold the torpedo bearing its name to the German Navy as well as to the Italians, Japanese, and Spanish.  

This torpedo was just one of many different types of weapons the German Empire sold to the Spanish military.  It also provided Mauser rifles,  Mauser C96 pistols, and Maxim machine guns.  The German Empire also provided several hundred advisers to the Spanish military.  A U.S. Navy squadron off the coast of Cuba sank Vizcaya during the 1898 Battle of Santiago. 

Gearing Up for War at Norfolk Naval Shipyard

This two-page photo spread appeared in the September 1, 1941, issue of Life magazine. The photos show a busy Norfolk Naval Shipyard shortly before America's official entry into World War II.  The photograph specifically shows the Yard's Pier Number 3, and the photographer took the picture from Building 163.

At the far left are USS Texas (BB-35) and USS Ranger (CV-4).  Two unidentified destroyers (possibly USS Rowan (DD-405) and Stack (DD-406)) sit in front of Texas.  The Presidental yacht/ex-U.S. Coast Guard cutter USS Potomac (AG-25) is docked in front of Ranger.  The pre-World War I and hard working ocean tug/ex-U.S. Coast Guard cutter USS Acushnet (AT-63) sits at right, awaiting her next job.   At the time, Norfolk  Naval Shipyard was also building the battleship Alabama (BB-60) and repairing the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, along with several other projects. 

Appearing in the same issue of Life was the above picture of 14-inch gun barrels from Texas.  The barrels had just been removed from the battleship and were awaiting transport to be re-sleeved.  Looming over them is Norfolk Navy Yard's distinctive "Hammerhead" crane.

Mk 7 16-inch gun barrels-A Correction!

Pictured at left are three views of a Mark 7, 16-inch/50 gun barrel at St. Juliens Creek Naval Annex. The Navy used the weapon on all four of the Iowa-class battleships. The U.S. Navy's NAVSEA Inactive Fleet division recently found permanent homes for this barrel and two others just like it (read more about the donation and the move at the Daily Press' website here).

These pictures were taken as part of an initial historic preservation survey of St. Juliens Creek. Museum staff identified the barrels as being surplus equipment left over from the cancelled battleship Kentucky. Built by Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Kentucky was to be the fifth Iowa-class battleship. The Navy cancelled the order halfway through construction in 1943 to shift Yard resources over to more pressing ship needs such as amphibious assault ships.

Inactive Fleet staff, however, recently did some research into these gun barrels and discovered that these barrels never were intended for Kentucky. Rather, research shows that the Navy removed the barrels from exisiting commissioned battleships, and they were to serve as spare parts for Iowa-class ships.

CSS Florida's Blakely Rifle Shells

Currently on display in the museum's CSS Florida exhibit are three Bashley Britten shells that were used with the ship's Blakely Rifles. The shells are named for Bashley Britten, an English inventor who patented this new type of shell in 1855.  This shell has a lead base that would expand upon the gun being fired.  This expansion would  make the shell fit better in the barrel of the weapon as it travelled down the barrel, thus producing better accuracy once the shell left the gun.  This design feature can still be seen in modern-day small arms bullets and some artillery shells.

The Blakely rifle is named for Captain Theophilus Alexander Blakely, a British ordnance expert who designed a series of light and heavy artillery pieces from the 1850s through the 1880s. His sympathies lay strongly with the Confederacy during the Civil War and he did much to assist the Southern states' problem of not having enough modern artillery.  He sold finished guns to both the Confederate Army and Navy, and his knowledge of ordnance via his patents (which in turn was used by men like John Mercer Brooke to design the Brooke Rifle) was extremely important.  Rather than inventing a new type of shell specifically for his guns, Blakely used the widely-adopted Britten shell design.

One of Florida's seven-inch Blakelys is currently on display at the Washington Navy Yard's Willard Park. The second gun is currently on display at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Florida's wreck is located in Hampton Roads and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum is the official repository for the ship's artifacts.

Guns of Gosport-Where They Ended Up

On April 19, 1861, Commandant Charles Stewart McCauely ordered the Gosport Navy Yard's buildings to be torched, the dry-dock destroyed, the guns spiked, and the ships scuttled. The job of spiking the guns fell to the ship's company of USS Cumberland. With only a few hours and two hundred men to complete the task, the operation was a failure. When the Virginia state forces moved to occupy the Yard, they found several hundred guns in operating order.

Norfolk-native Samuel Barron, officer-in-charge of Virginia's newly established state navy (much like his grandfather was during the American Revolution) and French Forrest, the new commandant of the Gosport Navy, quickly ordered the treasure trove to be deployed throughout the South. In a June 10 memo to Virginia Governor John Letcher, Barron reported on where the guns were sent. In all, they distributed 412 guns with about half remaining in Virginia.

James River Defenses:
-Fort Powhatan: Eight 32-pounders
-Jamestown Island-Three IX-inch Dahlgrens, nine 8-inch Columbiads, six 32-pounders, two 12-pounders
-Pig Point: Four VIII-inch Dahlgren, four 32-pounder

York River Defenses:

-West Point: Two IX-Inch Dahlgrens, one 32-pounder
-Gloucester Point: Eight IX-Inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders
-Yorktown-Eight 8-inch Columbiads and barbette guns

Potomac River defenses
-Potomac Creek: Two VIII-inch Dahlgrens
-Aquia Creek: One VIII-inch Dahlgren, one Parrot Rifle field piece
-Simms’ Point: One VIII-inch Dahlgren, three Parrot Rifle field pieces
-Harpers Ferry: Two 32-pounders Elizabeth River defenses:
-Fort Norfolk: Twelve IX-inch guns, four 32-pounders
-Craney Island: One X-inch Dahlgren, sixteen VIII-inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders
-Fort Nelson (Naval Hospital): Two VIII-inch Dahlgren, five 32-pounders
-Bush Bluff: Five 32-pounders
-Pinner’s Point: Twelve 32-pounders
-Sewell’s Point: Six IX-inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders
-Lambert’s Point: Six 32-pounders
-Barrett’s Point: Six 32-pounders

Ships
-Frigate United States (in Norfolk)-Three IX-inch Dahlgrens, Sixteen 32-pounders
-Steam Tug Teaser (in Norfolk)-Two 32-pounders
-Steamer Yorktown (in Richmond)-One X-Inch Dahlgren, Six VIII-inch Dahlgrens, One 64-pounder

Shipped Out of Hampton Roads
For the City of Richmond-Sixty guns of unspecified calibers
For the State of North Carolina-Ten VIII-inch Dahlgrens, seventy 32-pounders
For the State of Tennessee-Fifty-two 32-pounders
For the State of Louisiana-One IX-inch Dahlgren, Eight VIII-inch Dahlgrens, twelve 32-pounders
For the State of Georgia-Two 32-pounders

1798 cannon now on display

The 18-pounder cannon the museum received a few months from the conservation lab is now on display in the museum's War of 1812 gallery.  The gun was made in England in 1798 and is an excellent example of the type of weapon used  by not only the U.S. Navy, but the world's navies. The cannon was being used as ballast in the sloop-of-war Constellation when conservators removed it and spent months conserving the artifact.  Already gathering attention from museum visitors, an interactive display will soon accompany it.

1858 15-second time fuse, USS Cumberland

This is a 15-second, time fuse from the museum's USS Cumberland collection. A member of the ship's company would screw this device into an explosive shell right before the shell was loaded into a gun. The fuse would ignite the powder inside the iron shell, causing it to burst. In theory, the fire caused by the cannon firing would ignite the fuse.

Timed fuses allowed for the shell to penetrate a target's hull before exploding, making it the ideal choice against other ships and against soft targets such as forts constructed out of sand or dirt. The fuse is a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and black powder with black powder used as a variable. Fuses with shorter denotation times would have more black powder than fuses with longer denotation times.

The Navy tightly controlled the manufacturing and distribution of these small devices. The Navy's ordnance manual made it very clear that no one was to teach unauthorized persons, particularly foreigners, how to assemble a fuse. An ordnance laboratory at the Washington Navy Yard was the sole assembler of the devices. The Navy's ordnance department then distributed the completed fuses to the Government’s other navy yards, who in turn handed them out to deploying ships. Unused or old fuses were to be sent back to the laboratory to be remanufactured, stored, or disposed of.

USS Constellation's 18-pounder

A few months ago, the museum acquired on loan from its parent command an 18-pounder cannon used on the frigate USS Constellation. The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab restored and conserved the weapon before turning it over to us.

The weapon itself was typical of U.S. Navy ordnance in the early 19th century. It weighs over 4,700 pounds. Of note is that it is not an American made weapon. Inscribed on the cannon are the letters "P WG 1798," which are the marks of the British arms dealer Wiggin and Graham. The "P" means that it was intended for merchant ship duty.

The cannon is an important artifact for the upcoming commemoration of the War of 1812. British warships forced Constellation into Norfolk during the war. The ship's company used the frigate's 18-pounders in assisting the Virginia militia defend Craney Island during a major British assault in 1813.

We are currently having a carriage made and hope to have it on display soon.